Doors 6:30 p.m.; Event 7 p.m.
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THE EXPERIENCE

Tonight we celebrate the Portland premiere of director G. Chesler’s thoughtful documentary Connection | Isolation about the experiences of of trans people during the COVID -19 pandemic. Following the film, director G. Chesler will join editor Eli Haan in a discussion about the film. 

ON SCREEN: Connection | Isolation

2024. Directed by G. Chesler. Runtime: 85 minutes. 

Connection | Isolation presents eight intimate portraits of trans and post-gender individuals navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst moments of connection and isolation, these participants reveal a deepening awareness of gender, their bodies, and trans community. Participants express how Asian Americans faced escalating violent racism during the pandemic, how Black Americans and allies rose in opposition to white supremacist police-state violence in 2020, and the exclusion disabled people felt from a society that refuses basic protections. Created by an all trans and queer crew, this hybrid documentary film interlaces portraits with reenactments, integrating archival material that documents what so many experienced and many still do. Connection | Isolation witnesses the profound ways that, despite physical separation, trans community-building has been centered. This documentary invites viewers to witness the strength of connection as an act of resistance, offering care in the face of crisis, and using reflection as a path toward healing.

ON STAGE:

Director and Producer G. Chesler (they/them) directs, writes, and produces documentary and narrative films addressing gender, racial justice, health, and sexuality through and despite the body. G.’s films have screened at hundreds of festivals, museums, and community spaces globally. This year they were awarded a PGA Create Fellowship for their producing work, a Repro Film / Peace is Loud fellowship for Impact work, and grants from the Portland Events and Film Office and Regional Arts and Culture Council. Currently, G. is the producer of impact and distribution for Courtney Hermann’s documentary feature Outliers and Outlaws about the migration of hundreds of lesbians to Eugene, Oregon in the 1960’s-1980s. G. also produces the ITVS-supported feature Intersex Justice by Aubree Bernier-Clarke about the healing journey of an intersex activist. G. also produced the feature documentary Out in the Night, which won 15 awards and launched the UN’s “Free + Equal” campaign confronting homophobia and transphobia worldwide. They were associate producer and co-editor of Zeinabu irene Davis’ Spirits of Rebellion: Black Cinema from UCLA, which won the Best Diaspora Documentary at the African Academy Awards and Best Documentary at Blackstar Film Festival. G’s short fiction and documentary films include JAVA, The Pick Up, Bye Bi Love, BeauteouS, hand-some, and others. They have won awards from the Chicago International Film Festival, image+nation (Montreal), Cineffable in Paris, Big Muddy, and others for these films and their feature screenplays.

Editor + VFX Artist + Graphics Eli Haan (they/them) Eli works between music video, documentary, fiction and nonprofit projects through a framework of relational storytelling. Their work as the editor on Connection | Isolation strengthened the emotional arcs and abstract expressions in each portrait. Eli’s work of note includes the co-produced and co-edited short documentary Our Trails Too, that follows Mercy M’fon—founder of local nonprofit Wild Diversity—on their journey to reimagine the outdoor industry in Portland.